Third-quarter net income was $116.2 million, or 71 cents a share, compared with $81.8 million, or 51 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding special items, Hospira said it earned 90 cents a share.

Net sales rose about 9 percent to $1.01 billion in the quarter.

Lake Forest, Illinois-based Hospira said it continues to expect net sales for the year to rise about 5 percent to 7 percent, excluding the impact of foreign exchange translations, and to be up slightly including foreign exchange.

The company said it now expects full-year adjusted 2009 earnings of between $2.85 a share and $2.90 a share, up from the previous outlook of $2.80 a share to $2.85 a share. (Reporting by Susan Kelly, editing by Maureen Bavdek)